Monday, August 02, 2010

English teacher accused of sexual assault

So reads the headline of a Korea Times article.
According to police, an America citizen, a native English teacher at a private language institute, is accused of sexually assaulting a Korean barmaid in a public restroom of a building in Dunsan-dong, Daejeon, at 3 a.m. Saturday.

Police said the victim didn’t want the investigation to go further in exchange for compensation from the American. Under the law, police investigations into a rape case can only continue with the victim’s approval, meaning that the probe must be halted.

But police will inform the American’s workplace of the case to hold the offender accountable for his crime.
Oddly enough, this has only been reported by two news outlets - the Korea Times and Newsis (once as an article and once as part of a news roundup). The Korean media hasn't really bothered reporting on this. The Newsis article notes that the teacher was a 24 year-old American named 'A', and that the police will report him to 'relevant agencies.' One assumes this will mean not just the workplace, but also immigration. Otherwise, if the compensation system is used instead of prosecuting and the offense is not recorded, it would seem people would be able to continue working in places like schools with unblemished records.

4 comments:

gwern said...

Hm, a barmaid in a bathroom, and she's asking for money and not criminal charges...

I wish there were thorough followups for cases like these, so one could know whether the cynical interpretation is right or wrong.

Nusquam Humanitus said...

Agreed. Something stinks and it's not the bathroom in question. Criminal charges? She asked that there not be an investigation. How was he proven guilty? She wants money. Lovely.

Darth Babaganoosh said...

Zilchy, that's the whole point. He was NOT found guilty of anything, just accused. But even though he was not charged with anything or found guilty of anything and nothing was investigated, police are allowed to contact his employer and Immigration so they can hold him accountable for his (alleged) "crimes".

Yet Koreans CONVICTED of sex crimes cannot be discriminated against in their employment (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news...117_70168.html): "Those discriminating against the listed people in employment or education will face up to one year in prison or 5 million won in fines."

Nusquam Humanitus said...

Babaganoosh - I'm fairly new to the whole Korean scene and find this fact quite disturbing. Foriegn gentlemen, let's be careful out there. WOW! Is Korea a democracy? Anybody?